Don't Be a Hero!

Main Menu

The Pull List #73 – September 21, 2016

A weekly column in which Jake gives short blurbs about the comics he’s picked up that week. Reviewed in the order read, which varies but generally by increasing anticipation. Disclaimer: he knows very little about art, at least not enough to considerably honor such tremendous undertakings, so…yeh, there’s that.

Vic Stone. Cyborg. Part Man, part machine or past man, all machine. Such is the question at the heart of this and every Cyborg spotlight. However, Semper manages to inject a bit more heart into this tale by giving Vic a solid supporting cast and a dose of humor to boot, which makes for a thoroughly enjoyable read of a familiar tale. Pelletier solid character emoting and body language plays well with the script, which, coupled with some lovely sequencing, makes for a great read. Cyborg #1 is a solid first issue that gives us some great character work and the tease of great action to keep us coming back.

WicDiv takes a break from the crazy modern-day tale it’s telling to give us a crazy, er, past-day tale. More specifically, the night on Lake Geneva that birthed Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, but this time with gods! Gillen turns up the grim as we join a god cycle in its final days to find some familiar names on unfamiliar faces. The script gets a lot done character-wise in a short amount of time. Hans shows off more of the eerie side to her art than previous outings, as one would expect for a tale of this nature. 1831 proves to be an interesting and entertaining diversion.

This issue wraps up the Emiko side story in a really good way, showing how her patterns of betrayals ultimately lead her to doing the right thing by Ollie and Shado. I’m a sucker for classic villains so seeing the Clock King putting Ollie in peril with a nefarious deathtrap was nice to see. Add the resolution of the conflict between Emiko & Shado, and it was a nice little arc to prepare us for what new fresh hell is waiting for Ollie where he ended up at the end of #5.

This week, the “Smiths” go the state fair. That’s it. No Eradictor. No alien invasions. No Darksied. There is a possibility I love this book because of the stage of my life I’m in. I have plans for my future like pursuing a new career path, getting married to TK and starting a family. It could be that. Or it could be that this is a fantastic book that improves with every issue I read. You be the judge.

This is one of the more interesting DC Rebirth books I’ve read so far. It’s the story of two people coming to terms with the return of a man they knew and loved, but it’s a different man behind those eyes with different memories of the two of them as well. It’s about reforming an almost familial bond between Three people who need to be together for the sake of the world, and maybe save each other in the process. The last page gave a surprise twist that will definitely have me picking up the second issue.